A Star Reborn: The Queen's Return

Chapter 26

Chapter 26: The Musical Extravaganza

It was only then that Xia Ling had realized that the sister she had loved with all her heart hated her so much that she wanted her dead.

Xia Yu had used all the methods she could think of to insult and agitate Xia Ling, hoping all the time that Xia Ling would be pushed over the wall and commit suicide. Xia Ling thought to herself that perhaps if the incident at the concert never happened, maybe she would have been killed at the hands of her very own sister.

No…

There was no way to know if the murder at the concert was the doing of her sister or of the Wang family.

She dared not think too deeply into the matter, willing with all her heart that the culprit was the Wang family.

The sound of the click of a camera rang out.

Startled, Xia Ling came back to her senses. Turning, she saw Wei Shaoyin pointing a camera at her, clicking the shutter twice in quick succession.

She raised her eyebrows, looking at him questioningly.

“You are very calm in front of the camera, not like a trainee at all,” said Wei Shaoyin, and then commandeered, “Turn your body a little more, towards your 9 o’clock direction… Tilt your head to the left a little, 30 degrees… yes, very good.”

He clicked the shutter twice again.

“I charge expensive fees for my pictures,” said Xia Ling said as she obediently struck several poses.

“I told you trainees must do many things for the company free-of-charge.” Wei Shaoyin responded instantly, his hands not intending to stop.

“What do you want these photos for?” she asked with curiosity.

“To sell when you get famous.” He laughed such that his eyes formed a line. With that, he stopped and kept the camera.

Xia Ling sat back down on the wide and spacious sofa that was made of genuine leather. She turned to look at him and asked, “Are you so confident that I will become famous?”

“Any trainee that I, Wei Shaoyin, have chosen to nurture have all made it big.” He sat down on the other end of the sofa, his long index finger drumming on the glass top of the coffee table. “What were you thinking about just now? Your expression was…”

“Was what?”

He did not reply but threw the camera to her.

Xia Ling turned it on and scrolled to the image that he had taken. The first was a half body profile shot. She was wearing a loosely-fitted, pale-colored cardigan, with one hand touching the glass window of the full-length window, rays of the setting sun on her face. The expression on her face in the camera was exceedingly gentle but sad, weakness showing from the depths of her eyes as she stood to stare out of the mirror blankly, the evening sun giving her a soft glow.

Undoubtedly, Wei Shaoyin’s photography skills were stellar.

Xia Ling switched the camera off and returned it to him, not saying a word.

Wei Shaoyin did not press her with questions, but simply refilled her cup with warm water. The warmth traveled up from the tips of her fingers, making her feel alive. Being alive… was just this simple, to be able to feel a bit of warmth.

Several days later, the end-of-year music extravaganza kicked off as scheduled.

It was a live broadcast. A long security barricade was erected surrounding the square outside the broadcast station under the starry night sky, a bright red carpet stretching from the grand entrance to the carved stone steps.