Chapter 371: The Butterfly and the Flower

He respectfully handed the document over to Pei Ziheng and said, “Boss, I’ve completed your request.”

Pei Ziheng took the document from him and scanned it quickly, before passing it to Xia Ling. “Xiao Ling, sign this.”

Xia Ling opened her eyes and looked down at the document placed in her hands. It was an artiste management contract with Imperial Entertainment. Her eyes widened in shock, and she lifted her head to look at him. “Pei Ziheng, I’ve signed a contract with Dongyue Culture and Entertainment. How can I sign another contract with Imperial Entertainment?!”

“You’re no longer an artiste under them.” Pei Ziheng replied.

“What did you do?”

“Very simple.” Pei Ziheng said in a calm manner. “I’ve paid them three times the amount that they would ask for a breach of contract. They were extremely efficient in processing the cancellation of your contract. You are now a free agent.”

Ha, a free agent? The irony was not lost on her.

Xia Ling laughed in exasperation. “Pei Ziheng, you’re despicable!”

“Call me despicable if you want.” Pei Ziheng remained cool, as he patiently looked at her. “Xiao Ling, only Imperial Entertainment is your home. It’s the only place that you can go to. Don’t you want to be a Diva? Don’t you want to have fans throughout the world? Only I can fulfill your dream and make you a singer that is even better than… Xia Ling.”

As Chu Chen was still in the room, Pei Ziheng did not reveal her real identity.

However, a suspicious glint entered Chu Chen’s eyes as he glanced over at them. How astonishing… Boss holds “Ye Xingling” in such high regard? Boss never wanted anyone to surpass Xia Ling. Now, he was promising Ye Xingling that she would be more successful than Xia Ling? Oh my… has Boss really fallen for Ye Xingling?

How was that possible?!

This was mindblowing.

Xia Ling was glaring angrily at Pei Ziheng. “A Diva created by you? That’s not something that I would deign to be! Pei Ziheng, let me tell you… I’ll never join Imperial Entertainment. I’m not signing this contract! Just give up already!”

“You’re not going to sign it?” Pei Ziheng’s expression darkened momentarily before he reverted to his gentle demeanor. “It’s okay for you not to sign this. I’m not bothered if you sing or not, as long as you stay by my side.” Supporting her was nothing to him given that he was the ruler over his business empires, and had immense status and position. She could spend all she wanted and he would still be able to afford it.

Xia Ling was also aware of this.

“I want to return to Dongyue.” She said.

“You think Dongyue will dare take you back?”

“You!” She glared at him again, her chest starting to hurt with her anger. In the entire entertainment circle, the only company that could go head-to-head against Imperial Entertainment was Skyart Entertainment. All the other companies were oppressed by Imperial Entertainment. If Imperial Entertainment were to tell them to do something, they would not dare to defy them. Pei Ziheng was correct in saying that Dongyue would not take her back.

And there was no way that she could go to Skyart Entertainment.

She had made the death vow never to leave Pei Ziheng. Since she was cursed to belong to Pei Ziheng in this life, why would she go back to Skyart Entertainment to torture herself even more? That was something that would do no good to her, or to Li Lei.

She clenched her fist in anguish.

Pei Ziheng reached out to caress her face again.

She turned her face away in disgust.

His hand moved away from her face, and she heard him say, “Have a good rest. I will come tomorrow to see you again.”

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She stayed in the ward to recuperate and became better day by day. Eventually, all the casts were removed, and she was able to hold on to the wall to walk around slowly. A top-class medical team was in charge of her physiotherapy, and one of the female doctors smiled as she remarked. “Mr. Pei is so concerned about you. He will personally ask after your progress in physiotherapy every day. He even instructed us to ensure that your joint movement and muscular function returns back to normal as you are an artiste, and to ensure that your entire physical being is as perfect as before.”

Xia Ling gave a cold laugh. Artiste? Was he still wishfully hoping that she would sign the contract with Imperial Entertainment? Fat hope.

She studiously completed her physiotherapy every day, but it was not to be able to return to the stage. Even though she longed to perform again, she would rather not perform ever again if the only way were through joining Imperial Entertainment.

She diligently did her physiotherapy for Li Lei.

If she were to become frail from neglecting physiotherapy, she knew that he would definitely be upset.

She wondered how he was doing…

She was isolated from the world as Pei Ziheng had confiscated her mobile and prevented her from receiving any news about the world. The only source of news she received was from the newspapers that were brought to the ward each day, and the television in her room.

She would peruse the papers and watch everything that could update her about entertainment and finance news, and would even read the global sections, hoping that she would glean snippets that could tell her just a little about how Li Lei was doing. However, she had no luck whatsoever. Nothing caught her eye, and while she would occasionally see reports on Skyart Entertainment, they would usually be about Bai Murong’s concert tour or Wei Shaoyin’s new masterpiece.

Li Lei seemed to have vanished into thin air.

She was aware that he liked to maintain a low profile, and while she adored this characteristic of him in the past, it was proving to be a torture to her now. She did not know where else she would be able to get information about him other than the news.

Was he really brought back to the Li family headquarters by the Old Master? Or did Chu Chen lie to her?

She would be overcome with worry whenever these questions crossed her mind.

The world outside moved ahead as per normal. Her world, on the other hand, was shattered.

This day, Pei Ziheng pushed her out on the wheelchair for a walk. While her body was getting better, and she could walk slowly by herself, she was after all still recovering from many severe injuries and could not exert herself too much.

He pushed her wheelchair to the sky garden on the rooftop.

This was an exclusive zone for the VIP patients and was not open to the public. The garden was quiet, and the colorful pebble path gave it a beautiful vibrancy. Slivers of sunlight shone through the leaves of the luscious plants that sheltered the place, creating little golden spots on the ground that looked like flakes of genuine gold.

It was a warm spring afternoon, and butterflies were flitting around.

She lifted her face to look at the butterflies, but the expression on her face was depressed.

“Are you unhappy?” He asked her in a low voice.

“Let me go.”

This was the norm in recent days. Their conversation would die down after a few sentences. Pei Ziheng continued walking forward as he pushed her along, and his warm and deep voice rang out again. “See how beautiful these butterflies are. There’s a saying that says each butterfly is the soul of a flower that wilted. They fly back to the flowers to find their past life.”

“Where did you hear that from? What rubbish.”

“It’s in a fairytale I believe. Do you remember when you were young you used to love listening to fairytales? You would always bug me to tell you fairytales. I didn’t know any, so I bought many books and read them to you night after night.” Pei Ziheng recounted slowly. Ever since her death, he had masochistically bought more fairytale books and read them in the many nights that he lay awake in the bed to the lonely emptiness in the room. He would read them one after another until he grew hoarse.

“I’ve long stopped reading fairytales.” She responded in an aloof tone. “Butterflies are evolved from caterpillars. No matter how beautiful their wings are, their body is just that of an ugly worm. Someone was probably fascinated by their beauty and created that story. Finding their past life? What is there in the past life to pine for?”

Pei Ziheng stopped in his tracks.

He stopped abruptly, and Xia Ling had to hold on to the handles of the wheelchair to steady herself.