A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

He wiped his mouth gracefully with a napkin, pushed his cutlery away, got up, and took up her back upstairs. “You aren’t feeling well.” He said to Xia Ling. “Go to sleep and take a rest. You’ll be better at night. You can’t eat so little at night because your body won’t be able to stand it.”

“I don’t want to sleep.” She said. She did not want to get on that bed because that bed always made her feel that Pei Ziheng was in control. Once she thought that the spot beside her on the bed was occupied by him, she would feel immense fear.

Pei Ziheng gazed at her weak stature which looked like a gust a wind could knock her down. “I’ll get a doctor to check on you.”

She continued to shake her head.

“If this continues, you have to take a nutrition shot.” He said.

“I don’t like injections.”

“Then take a good rest.” Pei Ziheng was also unwilling to let her have the injection because nothing could compare to actually eating a meal. “Just sleep for a while on the bed. Tell me, what do you want to eat tonight? I’ll ask Nanny Zhou to prepare it for you.”

Only then did Xia Ling obediently get on the bed.

She tossed and turned for a long time before she fell asleep. When she closed her eyes, Li Lei’s smiling face filled her dreams. Suddenly, she felt that sleeping was not a bad idea. At least in her dreams, she was able to meet the person she loved.

When dinner time arrived, she felt much better.

However, she still had no appetite. Although the table was filled with the dishes she loved, she only ate a few mouthfuls before putting down her utensils. She felt that she had been too accustomed to Li Lei’s cooking and was dissatisfied with the dishes cooked in other people’s homes. Even though she liked Nanny Zhou’s cooking very much in the past, it was hard to swallow now.

If Li Lei were here, how great would that be?

She was depressed and went back to the bedroom early as she wanted to sleep. However, Pei Ziheng followed her in and took off his tie directly on the bed.

Xia Ling was taken aback. “What are you doing?” She asked.

Pei Ziheng replied, “If I’m not here, are you going to sleep on the carpet again? Xiao Ling, I won’t allow this. I will sleep with you to ensure that you will sleep on the bed every night from now on.”

In reality, he just did not want to sleep in the study room. Now, he was just using this as an excuse to sleep in the bedroom again.

He knew that she was scared, so he would not touch her for now. However, that did not mean that he would not touch her forever. First, he would sleep on the same bed with her. It was a step-by-step process. After sleeping together for a long time, one day, she would accept his kisses, love, and touch like in the past.

However, Xia Ling said, “I don’t want that.”

Pei Ziheng said, “I could also want you directly.”

She surrendered.

On the bed, she was too consumed by fear to fall asleep. She always slept back-facing him, but he was hugging her too tightly, reminding her clearly at every moment that she was unable to escape.

Her mood and appetite worsened.

On this day, Pei Ziheng went to work very early and left her alone to eat breakfast.

Nanny Zhou made sour radishes.

At the start, Mr. Pei kept instructing her to cook dishes that Miss Xia Ling liked to eat, but Miss Ye seemed to eat them with difficulty. Thus, Mr. Pei was no longer insistent on that. He only told her to cook anything as long as Miss Ye would eat more.

Nanny Zhou asked her what she liked to eat, but she would only shake her head and say “anything” with a bored look. She had no choice but to guess. Today’s breakfast was a new dish that had never been on the table, and she did not know if she would like it.

Xia Ling tasted the sour radish and unexpectedly felt that it was delicious. She also tried some porridge. This was the first time in days that her appetite was good. Nanny Zhou was bursting with joy and quickly added more sour radishes and porridge to her bowl.

“It turns out that you like to eat this.” Nanny Zhou smiled. “I will cook this for you every day.”

Xia Ling wanted to tell her not to trouble herself, but she did not know why she swallowed her words back.

She lifted her head and smiled lightly. “Ok, thank you, Nanny Zhou.” In reality, she usually did not like to eat sour food, but today she was drawn to it. After smelling the sour radishes, she felt as if her suppressed appetite was back again, probably to compensate for the lack of food in the earlier days. She ate a lot of it.

Nanny Zhou watched as she ate until she was shocked by the amount she ate and was afraid that she would overeat. She kept her utensils. “You ate very little these few days. Although it’s still porridge, don’t eat so much in a hurry. Take care of your stomach. If you are hungry again, I will make an early lunch for you. We will also try new dishes.” Nanny Zhou giggled.

Xia Ling also felt that it would be problematic if she ate at this speed. Although she was still a little hungry, she put down her chopsticks.

It was a long wait until lunch arrived.

Initially, Xia Ling still looked forward to lunch. However, when Nanny Zhou brought over fragrant braised pork ribs, she did not know why she felt uneasy. She forced herself to take a bite, but her stomach ached. She could not tolerate it anymore and ran to the toilet to vomit.

Nanny Zhou worriedly walked over and lightly patted her back. “Miss Ye, are you ok?”

She vomited for a long time. She had already digested the porridge she ate in the morning and did not eat much in the afternoon, so she only vomited out acidic water. It took a long time before the headache and the nauseating feeling went away. She breathed heavily and took the glass of water from Nanny Zhou to rinse her mouth. After she wiped her mouth, she weakly shook her head.

Nanny Zhou supported her back to the dining area. After she smelled the fragrant braised pork ribs, she ran back to the kitchen to vomit again. This time, Nanny Zhou quickly cleared all the dishes on the table and opened the windows for ventilation. After that, she supported her across the dining room and let her sit on the sofa in the living room.

“Should I call for a doctor?” Nanny Zhou asked with concern.

Xia Ling’s face turned pale. She hesitated before saying, “No, thank you… It’s probably because I ate too much for breakfast and my stomach is unwell.” She should be better after taking a rest.

Nanny Zhou sized her up and felt that something was unusual. After thinking, she said, “Could it be that you… have it?”

“What do you mean?” Xia Ling was startled and looked at her.

“Are you pregnant?” As Nanny Zhou spoke, she started to make more and more sense. “That year when I was pregnant with Ah Wei’s child, I went through the same thing. I couldn’t eat anything, and after smelling certain things, I vomited. Strangely, I liked eating sour things. Miss Ye, you have to take it seriously. Perhaps you are really pregnant?”

Xia Ling was stunned. Oh god, was she really pregnant?

She had no experience in this area. In her past life, she had always been very careful when she was with Pei Ziheng and did the necessary precautions. In this life, she was not that careful, especially during that night before the paragliding accident. He had just rushed back from abroad and climbed into her bed in the middle of the night. She was in a daze and had a passionate night with him. Now that she thought about it, it also seemed that she could really be pregnant.

Nanny Zhou laughed. “Quickly get a doctor to do a check. If Mister finds out about it, he will definitely be thrilled.”

What she said immediately caused Xia Ling to snap back to reality.

It was fine if she were not pregnant. However, if she were really pregnant with Li Lei’s child and living in Pei Ziheng’s house, she was unsure what Pei Ziheng would do to her child. The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became. Her face turned pale.

Nanny Zhou was deeply concerned. “Should I contact the family doctor?”