A Time-Limited Romance with Movie Queen Ex - Chapter 56.1

Without a moment’s hesitation, Luo Mijin sprinted through the muddy path toward Rong Qingyao.

Both of them were drenched, clinging tightly to each other, their bodies pressed so close it ached to the bone.

“Senior, why did you come?”

Rong Qingyao gently touched Luo Mijin’s rain-soaked brows and smiled faintly. “You didn’t answer my WeChat video call at ten, so I went for a walk on the field.”

“Senior, how long have you been waiting here? You’re freezing,” Luo Mijin said, her heart aching as she held Rong Qingyao tighter, searching for something to shield the woman from the rain.

Rong Qingyao noticed the wound on Luo Mijin’s temple and ignored the question. “Did your grandfather hit you?”

Luo Mijin nodded, then shook her head. She could feel Rong Qingyao’s body trembling slightly, she must have waited for over five hours, meaning she had been standing in the heavy rain all that time.

Considering Rong Qingyao’s poor sense of direction, Luo Mijin couldn’t imagine how much effort it had taken for her to find this place.

“Senior, you’ll get sick like this. You should go back to campus.”

“And what about you?” Though Luo Mijin hadn’t answered the earlier question, Rong Qingyao already understood their relationship must have been discovered. “You came to find me.”

It wasn’t a question but a statement.

“Yes, I came for you,” Luo Mijin said, her eyes stinging as hot tears dissolved into the rain, as if they could burn through the darkness.

“Then come with me, okay?”

Rong Qingyao tightened her grip on Luo Mijin’s hand and led her forward through the downpour. Stumbling but determined, she moved step by step. In the pitch-black surroundings, the woman was her only light.

“Senior, where are we going?”

“Home,” Rong Qingyao’s voice remained impossibly gentle despite the storm. “I was planning to tell you later, but now’s a good time. I moved out of the dorm recently and rented a small place.”

Luo Mijin looked at their intertwined fingers and asked in surprise, “Why?”

“I secured a stable internship at a big company. There’s a three-month probation period, and if I perform well, I can work there long-term. Moving out makes things more convenient.” Rong Qingyao turned to look at Luo Mijin. “And also, you can come see me anytime.

“But weren’t you preparing for graduate school? Those universities abroad…”

The woman’s eyes, shrouded in rain and darkness, were as deep as mist. “I’ve decided to stay at our university for grad school. It’s a top-tier institution staying here is just as good.”

Before, she had wanted to study abroad to escape her hometown, that suffocating little village, to climb higher and claim fame, wealth, and all the dazzling glory for herself.

But now she had a beautiful reason to stay. After meeting this person, she didn’t want to be apart from Luo Mijin for even a moment.

“Balancing work and studies will be exhausting for you,” Luo Mijin murmured, her silver hair soaked. A pang of sorrow struck her heart, worse than the pain of being called a “freak” by her grandfather.

Hearing the unspoken meaning in the girl’s words, Rong Qingyao stopped and met Luo Mijin’s gaze. Her cascading black hair framed her cool, beautiful face dark and deep, cold and striking like a moon steeped in ink.

“Luo Mijin, do you think life wouldn’t be hard without you? You’re my motivation, never a burden.” She embraced Luo Mijin, her breathing like tides. “And we’ll work together for our future.”

“Yes, we will.”

Miraculously, Luo Mijin’s bewildered panic gradually faded, replaced by waves of reassurance.

As long as she was with Rong Qingyao, she feared no hardship or difficulty.

What should have been a storm threatening to upend their lives instead became a vibrant, beautiful landscape in the palms of their clasped hands.

They boarded the last bus together. Worried their wet clothes would soak the seats, they stood at the back without sitting.

“Let me wipe you down,” Rong Qingyao took tissues from her bag and gently dabbed the rainwater from Luo Mijin’s face, revealing the wound at her temple more clearly.

“You too,” Luo Mijin said childishly, combing through Rong Qingyao’s soaked long hair. “Senior, you really shouldn’t have come looking for me in such heavy rain.”

“Stay still,” Rong Qingyao scolded lightly as she disinfected Luo Mijin’s wound with an alcohol wipe. “But if you wanted to find me, how could I not be there?”

Luo Mijin’s nose stung sharply. She understood the unspoken meaning Rong Qingyao had known she wanted to see her, so she came first.

Rong Qingyao had promised to wait for her forever, and she meant it for life.

“I did want to find you,” she mumbled, her nose stuffed.

“This is good enough.”

“Yes, this is good enough,” Luo Mijin replied, her nose and eyes red. “They took my phone, so I couldn’t text you. I waited in the ancestral hall for a long time until they let their guard down before I ran out.”

“I guessed as much,” Rong Qingyao whispered.

Luo Mijin didn’t understand how Rong Qingyao could be so perceptive, only feeling her eyes burn suddenly.

Perhaps tear glands had momentum too, having cried on and off all night, she found it easier to tear up now.

But she tried to hold back, not wanting Rong Qingyao to worry. She lowered her head whenever her eyes grew wet.

The bus drove through the storm, its lights flickering dimly in the rain.

“If you want to cry, cry for a while. Besides the driver, it’s just you and me here,” Rong Qingyao stood on tiptoe to pull Luo Mijin into her arms. “I’ll pretend I don’t know you’re crying.”

This made Luo Mijin laugh through her stuffy nose. “How do you pretend?”

“I’ll close my eyes, and you cry quietly,” Rong Qingyao buried her face in Luo Mijin’s shoulder. “Luo Mijin, do you want to live with me?”

“The place is small now, but someday we’ll live near an amusement park, with a view of the sea, a skylight covered in leaves, and a study below filled with video games and comics.”

What she really wanted to say was: “Thank you for choosing me.”

Waiting at the place they’d first met, if Luo Mijin came, it would be a reunion; if not, it would still be a vigil.

In the moving bus, Luo Mijin held Rong Qingyao quietly, never doubting the future the woman painted.

Over an hour later, they got off at the final stop. Outside, the downpour continued, the surroundings pitch black.

This was a newly developed suburban residential area with inconvenient transportation. In the distance, rows of plain white-walled houses stood against deep green woods.

Rong Qingyao turned on her phone’s flashlight and stepped out of the car at a steady pace, heading toward the street on the right.

The wind and rain lashed against her face, and the dark houses and trees lining the narrow street seemed to loom closer as well.

“Senior, when did you move here?”

“Two days ago. The place wasn’t fully settled yet, so I didn’t mention it,” the woman replied, glancing back occasionally at Luo Mijin’s forehead to make sure the wound had stopped bleeding before relaxing.

Luo Mijin felt dazed, relying almost entirely on Rong Qingyao to guide her. “This is nice.”

“Mhm. Does your wound still hurt? What… did you get hurt with? Later, I’ll check it properly to see if you need a tetanus shot.”

“It was an inkstone. Just a scrape, nothing serious.”

When she was at the ancestral hall, Luo Mijin had checked in the mirror though there had been a lot of blood at the time, the wound wasn’t deep.

Rong Qingyao led Luo Mijin to an old apartment building. Lush trees surrounded it, and the aged streetlights, battered by the storm, still stood firm, dutifully casting a warm yellow glow like the feeling of home.

The stairwell carried a faint musty smell, with black trash bags piled in front of several doors, mingling with the rain to produce an unpleasant odor.

They ascended slowly, the chipped stairs dark and occasionally illuminated by flashes of lightning.

Each floor housed three units. Rong Qingyao stopped at the leftmost door on the seventh floor, pulling out her keys to unlock it.

The small room, about 20 square meters, was cramped and narrow. The few wooden windows had peeling paint, looking mottled and worn, yet the space was unusually clean and tidy. The sparse furniture was arranged neatly and orderly just like Rong Qingyao herself.

No matter how poor or difficult life was, she carried an unyielding spirit, as pure and lofty as the first morning mist atop a snow-capped peak, sacred and untouchable.

“Go take a shower and change out of those wet clothes first, then come eat,” Rong Qingyao said softly, stroking Luo Mijin’s silver hair. “I’ll make you some ginger soup. It’ll help ward off a cold. And no picky eating this time.”

“Okay,” Luo Mijin replied hoarsely. When she looked up, she saw the woman’s pale, strikingly beautiful face her clothes and hair completely soaked, dripping water. Despite the disheveled state, she remained poised and breathtakingly lovely.

“Senior, you should shower and change first. I’m fine, my health is good. You’ve been out in the rain for so long; you’re the one who might get sick.”

Unable to argue, Rong Qingyao obediently went to shower and change first. She emerged wrapped in a clean, warm scent, wearing an oversized plain white T-shirt that just barely covered the tops of her fair thighs, her long, slender legs on full display.

“Luo Mijin, go shower now. I’ve laid out dry clothes for you,” Rong Qingyao said, drying her damp hair, her expression serene. “Is it okay if you wear my clothes?”

“O-of course,” Luo Mijin stammered, taking the identical long T-shirt from Rong Qingyao’s hands, her melancholy mood suddenly tinged with shyness.

“I’ll be right here. After you finish, come out, and we can talk, okay?” Rong Qingyao stood in front of Luo Mijin, looking down at the dejected girl before deliberately ruffling her hair. “If you don’t go now, do you want me to join you?”

“N-no, I’m going right now,” Luo Mijin blurted, springing to her feet and heading to the bathroom.

“Do you know how to use this water heater?” Rong Qingyao followed her, amusement in her eyes, demonstrating several times how to turn the hot water on and off.

Luo Mijin listened obediently, nodding to show she understood.

“Wait, your wound can’t get wet,” Rong Qingyao found a small piece of clean plastic film and temporarily taped it over Luo Mijin’s injury.

The woman gazed at Luo Mijin with concern, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed the corner of Luo Mijin’s lips. “Alright, I’ll be right outside and won’t leave. Call me if you need anything.”

“Mm, okay.”

Perhaps worried that Luo Mijin might sink into distress, Rong Qingyao would come in every now and then to chat with her. The topics were trivial, but her voice was gentle and soothing, carrying a calming power.

“Are you hungry? Tomato and egg noodles, with a bit of sesame oil.”

“It’s alright.”

As the “emotional organ,” the stomach reacted slowly and numbly. Luo Mijin thought she should be hungry, she just couldn’t feel it.

“Oh, there’s a TV here. After you come out, you can watch Harry Potter. I found a Blu-ray disc last time.”

“Will we watch it together?”

“Mm, together. I turned on the electric blanket on the sofa. You can lie down and nap if you feel sleepy after your bath.”

By the time Luo Mijin stepped out of the bathroom, two bowls of tomato and egg noodles were already set on the table, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was paused on the opening scene.

“Come here, I’ll dry your hair,” Rong Qingyao beckoned, holding a black hairdryer.

Amid the hum of the dryer, Luo Mijin tentatively called out, “Should I tell you what happened tonight?”

“If you want to,” Rong Qingyao replied calmly, her fingers threading through the other’s damp silver hair.

“Senior, I ran away. Grandpa…” Her gaze wavered. “Grandpa wanted to lock me up at home and force us apart.”

Rong Qingyao turned off the hairdryer and pulled Luo Mijin into her arms, comforting her like a small animal. “It’s okay. I’ll stay with you. Don’t be afraid.”

The woman’s embrace was warm and crisp, and Luo Mijin immediately hugged her back.

Was she sad?

Not really. Mostly, she felt numb and resigned. She had long known what kind of family she was born into.

A domineering patriarch, how could her grandfather allow the Luo family to have a stain like her? She had long prepared herself to be discarded as a disgrace.

The only thing that truly hurt was the fear that she might bring trouble or even harm to Rong Qingyao. That was something she could never forgive herself for.

“Senior, I can’t go to school for now. If I attend classes, Grandpa’s bodyguards will definitely catch me.”

“But…” Rong Qingyao’s slender brows furrowed slightly. Of course, she wanted Luo Mijin to be free to do as she pleased, but she had to consider reality. “I can help you catch up on your schoolwork.”

“And when you’re in class, be careful not to let Grandpa find you. He might bring people to do something bad to you…”

“I know. I’ll be extra cautious during classes.”

Luo Mijin described her grandfather’s methods as “tyrannical,” and Rong Qingyao wasn’t the least bit surprised. A family that would lock up their own granddaughter couldn’t possibly have much kindness to spare.

In the months that followed, Rong Qingyao went about her routine attending classes, preparing for graduate school, working while remaining vigilant during her daily outings, always watching for signs of surveillance.

She had even considered moving to another city. On this point, Luo Mijin had repeatedly suggested that she apply for graduate studies abroad, assuring her that she would also work hard to prepare for postgraduate programs at foreign universities.

That way, the two of them could live together overseas, and her grandfather wouldn’t be able to reach her.

To this end, Luo Mijin  had even made plans multiple times to sneak back to the old house and steal her own ID card and passport.

After reaching this agreement, they both worked hard to save money. Rong Qingyao was doing very well at her company, becoming the team leader of a small project. Her boss had repeatedly promised with conviction that he would reserve the manager position for her after she graduated.

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