This chapter has been translated by Atlas Studios. All credits belong to them.
Li Lei did not even lift his eyelids as he said, "Ah Wei, she hasn't eaten anything for the entire day."
Wei Shaoyin was quiet for a moment at the other end of the line, before hesitantly asking, "Boss, is Xiao Ling really alright?"
Li Lei lightly responded, "What could be wrong? She just woke up and is a little weak. I was about to bring her to have some dinner."
Wei Shaoyin did not sound convinced and asked Li Lei several more times if Xia Ling was fine. He even instructed Big Boss Li to take good care of her. Listening to him from the side, Xia Ling felt a cold sweat break out on his behalf. Ah Wei, Big Boss Li is your boss, man! How can you instruct your boss in such an overbearing way to take care of such a small artiste? It is a miracle that you haven't been fired in all these years.
Other than being shocked, Xia Ling also felt extremely touched at his concern.
Li Lei's expression was normal, answering Wei Shaoyin with the occasional "mmhmms" and "ahs" where appropriate, not at all upset at Wei Shaoyin's instructions.
Xia Ling was baffled. Who were these people in Skyart Entertainment... if it were at Imperial Entertainment, anyone who dared speak to Big Boss Pei Ziheng like how Wei Shaoyin did with Li Lei, he or she would immediately be asked to pack his or her bags and go home. She could not resist but to steal another look at the man on the phone under the warm light in the bedroom. There was a sense of peace between his brows and a warmth in his expression.
She realized in that instant that occasionally he felt like someone that was... trustworthy.
However, she soon shook her head as she sought to discard these thoughts from her head. Had she not been duped enough in her past life? These men with money and power could alter their promises as they wished and had no counterforce to curb their power. All their promises were lies, and they were all not to be messed with. She would no longer believe any of these men in high places with so much power, they were destined to be on a different path from her.
Wei Shaoyin finally concluded the call with Li Lei and reluctantly hung up.
Li Lei hung up as well and returned the phone to Xia Ling.
"Let's go have some food." He smiled as he said to her. "You heard it all, Ah Wei asked me to take good care of you."
Xia Ling did not have any appetite, and replied, "I'm not hungry."
"You still have to eat even if you aren't hungry." He coaxed her gently. "Otherwise, your body won't be able to take it." If there were anybody else present, they would be shocked at the gentleness that Li Lei was showing. Second Young Master Li was good with girls undoubtedly, but he would usually simply instruct his subordinates to send gifts, flash his credit cards, fetch them in his sports car, etc. Xia Ling was the only person that Second Young Master Li bothered to coax patiently and sweetly to have a meal.
Yet, Xia Ling still shook her head.
No woman had dared reject Second Young Master Li in such a way before. However, Li Lei remained patient and composed. "I made a delicious dish of scallops." His culinary skills were unrivaled, and he decided to try to entice her with the attractiveness of the food.
Xia Ling was not moved.
Li Lei did not know how to respond.
He tried a second tactic. "I have many guests at dinner and they are all interesting people. They will be thrilled to see you."
Xia Ling's decision still did not change.
A third tactic was enlisted. "Er Mao will be quietly sleeping in his room, he won't come out to scare you."
Xia Ling's decision still did not change.
"Okay." Li Lei gave up. "Have a good rest, then. I'll go back first."
He got up and considerately closed the door behind him for her as he left.
Xia Ling lifted her knees to her chest on the bed, hugging herself. In this time as she sat alone, the big bouquet of blue orchids appeared in the forefront of her mind again. The flower petals scattered around and the color of the petals were blinding and sinister. She imagined that the petals would crazily multiply and invade her lounge, invade every part of her living quarters, drowning her and suffocating her...
Her heart started to beat very fast again and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
She could not fight away the terrifying hallucinations and struggled to crawl off the bed, randomly pulling a blanket off the bed with her. She came to the lounge and thew the blanket over the large bouquet of blue orchids from afar.
The sinisterly bright flowers were covered, and a few scattered petals peeked out from beneath one corner of the blanket.
Xia Ling turned around and headed back to the bedroom, pulling another blanket off the bed to cover the corner where she could still the blue of the flowers. After which, she was still not satisfied. She went back to the bedroom to grab all the soft, feather-filled pillows and threw them over to the pile one by one, until there was a little mountain of bedding on top of the bouquet of blue orchids, trapping it below completely.
The doorbell rang.
She jumped on the spot and stayed rooted where she was for a few seconds before she went to open the door.
Outside the door stood Li Lei as well as an unfamiliar blonde, blue-eyed Caucasian man.
She backed away two steps and stared at them warily.
"Hi, nice to meet you." The Caucasian man initiated conversation first. He was tall and broad, with rippling muscles, and had a powerful kind of beauty. Yet, his expression was friendly as he continued, "Call me James, I'm Li Lei's friend. It's really nice to meet you."
Xia Ling frowned. She was not interested in making new friends. She turned to Li Lei with a questioning look.
"James is a guest that I invited over for dinner." Li Lei explained with an innocent look on his face. "He heard that you didn't want to eat and was worried. He insisted on coming over to take a look... Oh yes, I forgot to mention he's a doctor and really dislikes seeing others damage their body."
Doctor?
Xia Ling eyed the Caucasian man named James with suspicion. He looked more buff than Li Lei and looked like he would be an extremely dangerous and fearsome fighter. How did he resemble a doctor at all?
As if reading her thoughts, James laughed amicably and said, "I'm a doctor with the Wild Wolf mercenaries. I was on a work call nearby and decided to pop by to visit an old friend." His tone was calm like the warm sun in autumn, which would usually make others let down their guard.
However, Xia Ling was not a normal person and remained very defensive.
Her eyes scanned the dinner plate that they were holding in their hands. There was a lamb steak, oysters, scallops, some porridge, vegetables, and a fruit salad. It looked delicious and scrumptious.
"We are really only here to deliver you some food," said Li Lei lightly.
Seeing that they were adamant on not leaving, Xia Ling had no choice but to let them in.
The lounge was in a huge mess. James' eyes scanned quickly across at the mountain of bedsheets and pillows so quickly that Xia Ling did not notice at all. He exchanged a glance with Li Lei immediately after that.
"Is something wrong?" Seeing that Xia Ling had entered the kitchen, Li Lei slowed down his steps and asked James in a low voice.
"That is the position where the blue orchids were, right? She has covered them?" James lowered his voice as well to ask. The Wild Wolf mercenaries were a renowned international mercenary force — even if James was just a doctor in the squad, he was still highly professional and could exchange information with another completely unnoticed.
When Li Lei was younger, he had been part of the Wild Wolf mercenaries for a while. At this moment, he spoke with his old teammate easily. "Yes."
"She probably has experienced some deep pain in the past." James spoke softly and quickly. "Investigate the flowers or who sent them. Don't touch her wound, that would likely need a professional to treat."
Li Lei nodded.
This was the reason he had called James over — not to deliver her dinner, but to find out what was wrong with Xia Ling. He knew that something was off the moment he found her lying on the bed the entire day. He was very worried about her.
The two of them finished their quick conversation and entered the kitchen as if nothing had transpired.
Xia Ling was in a bad mood and did not realize the slight delay they took in coming in after her. At this moment, she had already cleared the table.
"Thank you for sending food over." She politely thanked them. "Put it on the table, I will eat it."
This clearly meant that they were not welcome to stay.
The number of rejections Li Lei had gotten from women in his life so far had been fewer than those he received from Xia Ling thus far. However, for some reason, he could not bring himself to get angry at her. And while he felt a sense of regret in his heart, on the surface he still showed a happy smile, "Xia Ling, remember to eat while it's still hot. We will take our leave."
James was speechless. Quit acting like its fine, Second Young Master Li.
After sending them away, Xia Ling stared at the scrumptious meal on the table. She had no appetite but knew she needed to replenish her energy — being an artiste took a big toll on her physical body. She had always been committed to her work, and she needed to eat to have the strength to work.
She finished the food slowly, mouthful by mouthful, before heading back to bed to sleep.
In the night, she had a nightmare. In her nightmare, there were the scattered blue orchids, butterflies, handcuffs, cages...
When she woke up, she felt drained.
She washed her face and meticulously put on her makeup to cover up her frailness before she headed out to look for Wei Shaoyin to discuss the promotional video. The schedule of the promotional video was decided very quickly, and when the day arrived, Xia Ling followed the team to the filming location outside the city.
They, unfortunately, realized when they reached there that —
Imperial Entertainment had chosen the same place to film their MV. Chu Chen had brought Xia Yu there to film the MV for her new song.