A Star Reborn: The Queen's Return

Li Rui stopped at the door of the kitchen and smiled. “How very rare to see you prepare dessert. People indeed change when they have a boyfriend.”

Xia Yingluo turned to look at him in her apron with bear prints. “Don’t you eat that cherry! I took a long time picking that out!”

Li Rui casually popped a cherry into his mouth. “Isn’t it just for Wei Lingnan, I’d be too nice to him if I don’t have some for myself.”

Xia Yingluo glared at him.

Li Rui smiled easily and teased. “This generation is really worse than the last. Why don’t you learn from our mom? Look at how she manages to get our dad to pamper her, he doesn’t even let her do anything in the kitchen. Why is it that for you, you’re having the shorter end of the stick?”

“Well, why don’t you learn from our dad?” Xia Yingluo rebutted. “You’re so lazy.”

Li Rui kept smiling. The sun rays that fell on him made him look especially carefree and handsome.

Xia Yingluo cut opened the cherry attentively and carefully placed it on the butter.

Li Rui asked her, “All of this for that man, is it worth it?”

“Even if a stranger helps you, you should give him a little gift in return.” Xia Yingluo was so focused, she did not even look up at him. “Oh right, how did you know this is for Wei Lingnan?”

“Because he definitely isn’t a stranger to you.” Li Rui laughed. “If it really was a stranger, you’d just get the butler to buy some wine or such.”

This Second Brother knew her too well.

The accuracy of his words had stunned her a little as she shook her head with a smile. Perhaps this was fate, this was just what it was like to find somebody she liked—although he was an alien, often unreasonable and absurd, she was attracted to him irrationally.

Once the dessert was done, she packed it in the most exquisite box and brought it to the Wei Family Biopharmaceutical Group.

It was the thick of fall and dried leaves were all over the streets.

She had planned to give him a surprise and hence, hadn’t told him that she was coming. However, when she went to the front desk, the lady told her, “Miss Xia, you may wait in the guest room for a while. Chairman Wei is busy at the moment.”

“What’s he busy with?” She asked.

It was just a casual question, but the lady at the front desk appeared hesitant to respond.

This piqued Xia Yingluo’s curiosity instead and she said, “I’m going in to look for him now. Don’t you tell on me, you hear me?”

“I...” The lady was put in a spot. She was part of the Wei Group and she’d be fired if she didn’t do her job well!

As if she could read her mind, Xia Yingluo said, “If you offend me, you’ll be fired all the same.”

The lady knew that Chairman Wei paid special attention to this girl and was caught in an even worse position now.

Xia Yingluo dropped her one last line. “But if you tell me what Wei Lingnan is doing right now, I could consider letting you off.”

After weighing out the pros and the cons, the lady at the front desk said, “Miss Gu Jinxiu is here. She’s speaking to Chairman Wei now.”

Well, Chairman Wei did not instruct her to keep this a secret, so it should be alright to tell Miss Xia? But of these two rich and beautiful ladies, one was Wei Lingnan’s self-declared fiancee, while the other was rumored to be in an ambiguous relationship with Wei Lingnan. Many had guessed that they were in an awful love triangle, and who knew if they’d fight when they saw each other?

Gu Jinxiu is here?

Xia Yingluo felt a prick to the heart. It bothered her.

She looked down at the dessert in her hands. Well well, Wei Lingnan, I spent so much time and effort preparing this for you, but you’re in there with another woman!

She turned around and said to the chauffeur, “Uncle Sun, could you help me keep an eye on this lady? Don’t let her tell on me.”

The chauffeur nodded in acknowledgment.

The lady at the front desk looked shocked, “Miss Xia, didn’t you say you were going to let me off?”

“I said I’d consider, I didn’t say I definitely would let you off.” Xia Yingluo smiled. Having been pampered since she was born, she was inevitably a little wilful. However, she considered the pains of a white-collar worker as well. “By getting the chauffeur to keep an eye on you, I’m letting you off, so that Chairman Wei wouldn’t blame anything on you. If he fires you, just come over to Skyart—your pay will be raised. Will that do?”

In just a minute, the lady at the front desk went from being upset to being filled with gratitude.

A pay raise, who wouldn’t want that?

She stayed at the front desk and really did not attempt anything under the chauffeur’s watchful eyes.

Xia Yingluo had come several times and knew which story Wei Lingnan’s office was on. She quietly made her way there.

She managed to evade any surveillance that could trigger the security system’s alarm and arrived at the door.

She could hear Gu Jinxiu’s voice coming from inside—”Lingnan, it’s been getting chilly lately. I knitted you a scarf, see if you like it.”

Xia Yingluo was enraged. Who was this woman to knit a scarf for her boyfriend?! She carefully peeped in through the gap at the door and saw that Gu Jinxiu was in an elegant knitted top and a skirt, and had on some makeup. She was looking at Wei Lingnan with those longing eyes as she held the scarf in her hands. Xia Yingluo could tell that it was of very good material and had wonderful workmanship; it must have taken her a lot of effort to complete this.

Wei Lingnan did not reach out to receive it. “You don’t have to do all these.”

Xia Yingluo could feel some of her anger dispel. Hmph, at least he had a conscience and knew that he shouldn’t accept gifts from other women.

But Gu Jinxiu appeared wronged. “Lingnan, what did I do to deserve this treatment from you? We’ve been alright together for years, but ever since you met Xia Yingluo, everything has changed. I know she’s younger than me and prettier than me, b-but who in this world would love you more than I do?” Her eyes went red as she spoke.

Xia Yingluo was laughing on the inside. Hmph, how pretentious!

Wei Lingnan was unfazed. “This has nothing to do with Yingluo, you can bring your things back.”

Xia Yingluo was so close to applauding Wei Lingnan, this was her boyfriend no less!

But Gu Jinxiu wouldn’t accept it. “Lingnan!”

“Take your scarf with you.” Wei Lingnan sounded cold and composed. “Gu Jinxiu, if you leave now, we can still be civil with each other in the future. Don’t do things that make me detest you.”

At this point, Gu Jinxiu went a little pale. Having been with Wei Lingnan for a few years, she knew very well that he meant what he said.