A Star Reborn: The Queen's Return

Pei Ziheng’s expression darkened as he listened.

He had instructed the Training Camp to persuade her into taking day school, but it didn’t mean that they could indulge in bullying her! He lowered his head and looked at the little girl in his arms. “Li Bingman and the teachers will learn their lesson.”

She looked up from his arms. “Yes! I want to snatch the single room back! I’ll make them apologize to them!”

Under the warm yellow light, Pei Ziheng’s expression was unpredictable. “Isn’t attending day school good?”

Xia Ling was angry at this. “Attending day school is the teachers’ way of bullying me! I’ll have to spend an extra hour on the road every day, which means I’ll have one hour less to practice. Brother Pei, I’ve promised you to hit it big time, so how could I practice one hour less every day?” The little girl said seriously. She was filled with indignance. “Li Bingman must have feared that I would surpass her!”

Pei Ziheng was speechless.

He had never thought of this problem. In his opinion, what did it matter to practice one hour more or less? It was more important to be able to spend more time with him at home. However, staring at the little girl’s flushed face, Pei Ziheng decided not to add fuel to the fire. He said simply, “I don’t want you to be too tired. It’s alright even if you practice a shorter time every day.”

She shook her head stubbornly. “I want to be the best. I don’t want to embarrass you.”

He smiled. “Silly girl, it doesn’t matter.”

She reluctantly clenched her small fist. “It matters, it matters too much! Anyways, I want to live on campus and drive Li Bingman out of the single room. If I lose in the first battle, how would I win in the future? Xiao Hua has told me that it’ll be even more complicated once I enter the entertainment industry. I must learn how to fight!”

“Who’s Xiao Hua?”

“My new friend.” Her eyes flickered. “She said that living on campus is fun.”

Pei Ziheng was still very gentle. “You said before that you didn’t want to use your privilege and want to do everything based on your own strength. If that’s the case, the Training Camp will definitely not agree to your residence.”

Xia Ling had not thought of this problem before. She was at a loss for a moment but decided not to give up. “The teacher told me to come back and ask my parents. They still won’t agree even if my parents say no?”

Pei Ziheng smiled. “If I was an ordinary parent and went to argue with them over this matter, the final result would be you being ordered to drop out. Imperial Entertainment’s Training Camp has always been powerful, they say one and mean just that.”

“Oh...?” Xia Ling fell into deep sorrow.

Although she wanted to live on campus, she didn’t want to drop out. If she was dropped out of school, how could she become powerful?

The little girl was at a loss.

Pei Ziheng smiled again. Since it was his own Training Camp, he knew the truth about it. Actually, how could the situation be as severe as he had made it sound? If it was an ordinary student, she may have been ordered to drop out of school. However, this girl little had an amazing musical talent in her—how could they make a good student who could sing the falsetto drop out? The Principal would be dismissed!

It was a pity that Xia Ling did not understand all these trickeries. She was at a loss and eventually asked weakly, “Brother Pei, could you... could you use your privilege to get me back to the Training Camp? You don’t have to chase Li Bingman out, just get me back to the Training Camp to live on campus. I want to drive Li Bingman out myself!”

Pei Ziheng said, “Not good.”

“Oh?” She hadn’t expected this to be his answer. She looked up in shock. Ever since she had been adopted, Pei Ziheng had always given in to all her requests, but what happened this time?

Pei Ziheng said, “Xiao Ling, you either have to rely entirely on yourself to attend day school or rely on me to arrange it for you—I’ll announce your identity and drive Li Bingman out openly. I’ll even make her kneel down in front of you and beg for forgiveness. Everyone will treat you like a princess and you’ll get things grander than Li Bingman. Nobody will speak ill of you again, everyone will smile at you in greeting and will do whatever you tell them to.”

“But, I just want to live on campus,” she whispered grievously.

She had heard enough rumors and slanders about her and she didn’t want others to point out that she was undisciplined because of Pei Ziheng’s backing.

Pei Ziheng said, “Xiao Ling, this is power. You either acknowledge it and enjoy it, or you stop concerning yourself with the benefits it brings. I don’t like you hiding and concealing it.” Actually, all these weren’t the real reasons. The real reason was that he couldn’t bear to let her live on campus, so he was dishing out so many reasons seriously.

Xia Ling felt even more aggrieved. “Even you are bullying me.”

Her eyes were red, like a child who can’t get candy.

Pei Ziheng coaxed her. “Be good.”

He reached out and wanted to pull her back into his embrace, but she avoided him.

“Xiao Ling.” He added more emphasis to his tone.

Her mood was very bad. She had suffered too much today at the Training Camp. Back then, at the logistics department, the only faith in her that had allowed her to raise her head high and walk out dismissively was Pei Ziheng. She had thought that after she was home, Pei Ziheng would comfort her properly. Who knew that he would not agree to help her!

In her heart, he was the closest person to her besides Xia Yu.

His lack of support made her more uncomfortable than the bullying of Li Bingman and the others.

She wanted to cry again. Fearing that tears would really flow out, she turned her head and stopped looking at him. She jumped off the sofa, went back to her little bed and lied on it with her back facing him.

Pei Ziheng sat on the sofa without moving.

Separated by the faint gauze screen, he stared at her slightly frail figure. After a while, he took the financial report and continued to concentrate on it.

Xia Ling lied with her back facing him for a long time, hoping that he would come to coax her.

However, a long time passed and he still did not move. She leaned her ears and listened carefully. She could only hear the rustling of the paper and guessed that he was looking at the boring record papers again. Outside the window, a half-moon hung in the night sky. She stared at it, boundless loneliness suddenly washing over her. She remembered how lonely she had been wandering all these years by herself and finally could not hold herself back from quietly shedding tears.

Xia Ling fell sick.

The second day when she got up, her face was pale. She measured her body temperature and found she had a low fever.

Nanny Zhou looked at her in concern. “Miss, why don’t you rest and take a day off from the Training Camp?”

Xia Ling held onto the fork weakly and sat on the high chair. She looked sideways towards Pei Ziheng, who was reading the newspaper while eating toast. “No,” she said softly to Nanny Zhou. “I want to go to class.”

She wouldn’t rely on him then, what was the problem?

Pei Ziheng looked up from his newspaper and glanced at her. “Have a good rest at home.”

“The teachers at the Training Camp already dislike me. If I were to rest, they’ll just hate me more,” she said weakly in a huff.

Pei Ziheng knew that she was still angry over what happened yesterday night, but he didn’t want to indulge her temper—she could behave as unscrupulously as she wanted, but the only thing was, she couldn’t defy him. He wanted to teach her to listen. “Nanny Zhou,” he instructed his maid. “Tell the driver that he need not send Miss today. And get the doctor to come.”

Nanny Zhou responded, “Yes.”

Xia Ling put down her fork heavily and suddenly couldn’t control her temper. She shouted at Pei Ziheng, “I want to go to class! You were the one who said I can’t use my privileges! Why are you keeping me at home now?!”