This chapter has been translated by Atlas Studios. All credits belong to them.
She took a deep breath to give herself some strength. It was only 10 meters away. Xia Ling, you can do this. Just walk over.
As she was giving herself a pep talk, Wei Shaoyin was getting increasingly impatient. "Are you coming or not? Hurry up, I need to arrange a new song for tomorrow."
Pei Ziheng was still staring at her, the edge of his trench coat silently fluttering in the wind and snow.
She saw that he did not make a move and consoled herself that he could not have recognized her in her new face and body. Finally, she steeled her mind and slowly walked towards the car.
She walked right past him.
The bitter smell of cigarette smoke lingered on his body, not blown away even in the blustering weather.
Close enough to touch, he said in a low voice, "You...."
She stumbled a little and started to shake uncontrollably. At this moment, all kinds of thoughts ran through her mind and she barely controlled her tears from falling.
Yet, all she did was to quicken her steps and walk away, as if she was escaping from him.
When she got onto Wei Shaoyin's car, she was still in a state of confusion. Her hands were shaking and it took her a few tries to buckle her seatbelt. She lifted her head and looked up ahead, where she saw Pei Ziheng still standing with one hand on the car door, seemingly unaware of the blistering snow beating down on his body.
Wei Shaoyin started his car.
He drove a distance before suddenly asking, "You know Pei Ziheng?"
Xia Ling did not respond.
The warmth in the car made it seem like spring, and soft music was playing in the background. Her cold and stiff body was regaining its sensations. As she relaxed, all she felt was a sense of fatigue.
Wei Shaoyin's clean, white hands holding onto the steering wheel and his gaze still resolutely on the road, he said, "The look that he gave you just now looked like you owe him a few hundred million dollars."
She gave a bitter laugh and finally found the strength to retort. "Do you think I can afford to owe him that much?"
Wei Shaoyin laughed as well, saying, "That's true, you are already in the tenterhooks for owing our company just a few million dollars. If you really owed Pei Ziheng a few hundred million, you should just jump off a building."
She wished that she simply owed Pei Ziheng several hundred million dollars. That would have been easier, and there would be an end to her misery. But what was this situation now? Even death could not banish that man from her world. What did she have to do to forget him completely?
Wei Shaoyin lowered the music volume but pressed on astutely. "So, do you or do you not know him?"
"Mr. Wei," She closed her eyes and said softly, "Ye Xingling is but a small, insignificant trainee in Skyart Entertainment. How would I know the big boss of Imperial Entertainment?"
"I told you to just call me Ah Wei, why won't you listen?" Wei Shaoyin complained. Seeing that she did not react, he said, "That was what I thought as well. But that look he gave you... it does not look that simple."
"Bosses are all crazy." She coldly said. "Who knows what they are thinking?"
Wei Shaoyin glanced at her, sensitive to the tone of her voice. "Which boss in our company offended you?"
She had to admit that his instincts were impeccably accurate.
She turned to stare out of the car window and unhappily said, "No one."
She could not possibly tell him that Li Lei wanted to pay for her to sleep with him.
She felt a slight headache coming on. What was all this rubbish? As she recalled Li Lei telling her that he would wait for her to change her mind, her mood became even worse. In this life, she just wanted some peace and quiet. She wanted nothing to do with and could not afford to take care of these important people.
In the following days, Xia Ling was in a depressed state.
Wei Shaoyin's recording studio was incredibly busy, but Xia Ling's mind was preoccupied and she made several mistakes. Wei Shaoyin gave her a piece of his mind and she almost had to pack her bags and return to the training camp.
On this day, she managed to end work early with great difficulty and was walking back home alone.
It was a sunny, winter day with few pedestrians. The small shops along the streets were playing the most popular songs of the season.
As she turned the corner at the end of the street, a grand-looking Audi came to a stop in front of her. Xia Ling raised her head and saw someone wearing a black, long trench coat step out from the car and remove his sunglasses — Hurhur, a familiar face. It was Chu Chen.
She stopped and silently looked at him.
He passed his name card to her and asked, "Miss Ye, do you remember me?"
"Yes, I know you. Chu Chen from Imperial Entertainment. We met that day at the end-of-year music show." She said lightly and did not accept his name card.
He did not get angry and naturally retracted his outstretched hand like it was not awkward at all. He looked down at her, and put on the voice he used in business negotiations, "Shall we look for a place to have a chat? Imperial Entertainment has prepared a little gift for you."
Oh, so the bribe that Wei Shaoyin had blackmailed them into giving her had arrived.
She turned and took a quick look around. Pointing at a random cafe along the street, she said, "Let's just talk there."
Chu Chen nodded and followed her into the cafe.
There were very few people in the cafe. Xia Ling picked a seat near the window and sat down. A waiter came up to ask if they needed anything. Chu Chen ordered a Blue Mountain coffee and Xia Ling said, "Warm water, thanks."
Chu Chen looked at her closely.
"You are very similar to someone I once knew." He suddenly said.
Xia Ling gave a start but did not show it outwardly. "Oh?" She responded.
"She had the same air of disregard for others, liked sitting near the window at cafes, and had the habit of drinking warm water." Chu Chen's voice actually contained a little yearning and sorrow.
She gave a cold laugh, saying, "I believe the powerful Manager Chu did not look for me today to recount old memories?"
He looked like he had been pricked by her acrimonious words, and his face darkened as he looked at her for a few more seconds. He laughed coldly and said, "Look for you to recount old memories? Ye Xingling, you think too highly of yourself. Someone like you cannot even dream of being compared to a fraction of her."
It was truly her good manners that prevented her from splashing the glass of water at him.
In this life, she was much more tolerant. If it was Xia Ling from before, to hear a person that had betrayed her and pushed her into the realms of despair say this, she would definitely make sure that he lost everything —
It was he who had betrayed her first. What right did he have to recount old memories? The hypocrite.
Xia Ling gripped tightly onto the glass in her hands before releasing it again. She controlled her flaring temper and said, "Get to the point."
Chu Chen pushed a paper over to her and said, "You have a sister called Ye Xingfei who has been staying in the hospital for a long time, right? I've contacted your parents to transfer her to the best hospital in this state. The special care ward. All expenses will be borne by Imperial Entertainment."
She was stunned and looked down at the paper.
That was a notice informing of the transfer of hospitals. Her parents' signatures were on the paper in black-and-white.
Xia Ling said, "No one told me about this."
Chu Chen crossed his fingers on the table. "I told them to keep it a secret. It was meant to be a surprise for you today." He explained.
Surprise? Shock was a better word for it.
She was completely in the know about Feifei's condition and doctors had told her that it was possible that she could never wake up again. This meant that she would be staying in the hospital for life in a vegetative state. Feifei was still young, thus there were still several decades for her to live. The hospital expenses were long-term and the cash burn would not stop after a few days... This was a black hole.
This was a huge outlay and a problematic one that would last for a long time.
Would Imperial Entertainment be so generous just to keep Wei Shaoyin quiet for their publicity stunt?
And handle everything first, without her knowledge at all?
Xia Ling's first thought was to transfer Feifei back to the original hospital she was at. Even though the conditions were not as good, but she was using the money she had borrowed from Skyart Entertainment to maintain the expenses, giving her a free conscience. However, Feifei and her were step-sisters — they shared the same father but a different mother. Her stepmom did not like her and only loved her own daughter, Feifei. There was no way her stepmom would agree to transfer Feifei back to the original hospital after this significant upgrade.
She felt uneasiness creep into her heart. She took a sip of water and slowly asked, "Is this all you wanted to tell me?"
Chu Chen laughed. "You are very intelligent."
As he spoke, he pushed another item across the table. It was a nicely-wrapped, long rectangular box that looked like it costed a fortune.