A Time-Limited Romance with Movie Queen Ex - Chapter 60.2

Before Luo Mijin could finish, she was met with a glare. Rong Qingyao bit her lip, her eyes shimmering, recalling Luo Mijin’s earlier mischief of coaxing her to take one more finger and now she dared to joke about it again.

“What… what’s wrong? Have a little more?” Luo Mijin scooped up a spoonful of fish congee and blew on it to cool it down.

“How dare you ask? When did you become so wicked?”

Luo Mijin: “???”

“How is it wicked to want you to eat more? Even if you’re a celebrity, you shouldn’t diet. It’s bad for your health.”

Rong Qingyao: “Just shut up.”

This was the first time she had been reduced to such a state. Even after midnight, the flush at the corners of her eyes hadn’t faded, her skin was covered in marks, and there was still a glistening wetness, pitifully swollen and slightly parted, revealing an alluring hue inside.

**

It wasn’t until 3 p.m. that they finally managed to get ready, change clothes, and head out.

Bai Jinhuai, who had been waiting in the car for ages, had grown impatient and even made two trips to an ice cream shop for chocolate-flavored treats.

Seeing the two finally emerge after much anticipation, she couldn’t help but complain, “Hey, weren’t we supposed to visit your alma mater today? What took you so long? Honestly.”

At this, Rong Qingyao shot Luo Mijin another reproachful look and pinched her waist. “It’s all because Luo Mijin was too busy playing games and wouldn’t listen no matter what I said.”

Luo Mijin didn’t dare argue, only nodding meekly. “Yes, it’s my fault for losing track of time.”

“Alright, get in the car already. Any later and we’ll hit traffic.”

Bai Jinhuai instinctively drove to S University’s second gate their favorite back in the day for dodging bodyguards, thanks to the abundance of shops and trees that provided excellent cover.

As Luo Mijin and the others got out of the car and walked a few steps through the side gate, an excited female voice called out from behind a camphor tree.

“Luo Mijin! You’re Luo Mijin, right?” The speaker was still wearing a white cotton dress, with an added knitted cardigan for warmth.

“Ah, yes, but I don’t think I know you,” Luo Mijin replied, subtly taking a small step back as she searched her memory for who this might be.

“I was your classmate, the one who always wore white dresses. Don’t you remember me?”

“Did we sit together in computer class before?”

“Yeah, yeah! And during freshman year when we went to that summer internship in the neighboring city, I even wanted to ask you to teach me Go. Wow, you look exactly the same as you did in college, you haven’t changed at all.”

Luo Mijin smiled, unsure how to respond to her old classmate. “I guess so.”

“You and…” The classmate’s gaze drifted to Rong Qingyao, dressed in a black professional suit, approaching from a distance. “Is that Senior Rong?”

“It’s her.”

Luo Mijin turned to look at Rong Qingyao, an unconscious smile forming on her lips.

“You two…” The classmate hesitated, her eyes flickering between them with a complicated expression.

“What about us?” Rong Qingyao frowned slightly, clearly recognizing the person before her the one who had once been quite infatuated with Luo Mijin.

“Have you two… finally gotten together?”

Luo Mijin fell silent for a moment, her slightly long bangs covering the corners of her eyes. “How did you know?”

“After everything that happened, you dropping out, the incident at the airport, and then your family… I kind of guessed back then.”

“Are you doing okay now?”

Luo Mijin glanced back at the stunning woman fading into the evening glow and chuckled softly.

“I’m doing great. Never been better.”

“That’s good, that’s good.” The classmate lowered her head, repeating the words nervously several times before lapsing into a long silence.

“Well, if there’s nothing else, I should get going. See you.”

“Wait, Luo Mijin.”

“Is there something important?”

“If you have time,” the classmate sighed, forcing a smile as she extended the invitation, “let’s go to a café and talk. About the past, there’s something I want to say to you.”

Luo Mijin turned to Rong Qingyao for her opinion. The woman nodded gracefully, smiling. “Sure, it’s been a while since we’ve been back. Catching up with old classmates sounds nice.”

“Thank you, Senior Rong.” The girl in the white dress flashed a hint of guilt in her eyes and quietly followed them to an ornately decorated café on campus.

“You two sit first. I’ll go order.” Rong Qingyao’s gaze brushed past Luo Mijin as she spoke with gentle consideration, though she secretly pinched Luo Mijin’s arm.

This prompted Luo Mijin to hurriedly send a pleading text under the table, only to receive several more sharp glances from Rong Qingyao.

After hesitating for a long moment, the girl in white finally steeled herself and confessed:

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. All these years, I’ve carried this guilt. I owe you an apology especially after hearing you dropped out.”

Standing not far away at the counter, Rong Qingyao’s expression turned solemn as she absentmindedly spun a coffee cup and spoon in her hands.

Seeing this, Bai Jinhuai, who had followed her, burst into laughter and teased,

“What, are you jealous that your Luo Mijin ran into an old college classmate? You vinegar jar.”

“I am not.”

“Denial. You just can’t stand that she’s been pining for Luo Mijin all these years and recognized her in a crowd at first glance. Someone as petty as you would never handle that well.”

Rong Qingyao pressed her lips together, deciding not to dignify Bai Jinhuai with a response.

“Oh, Qingyao, before I came, I checked your school’s forum. There are so many old confession posts for your Luo Mijin. You’d better watch out, who knows if these juniors might still fall for her.”

Rong Qingyao shot a sidelong glance at the gloating Bai Jinhuai, focusing solely on ordering without engaging in argument.

By the coffee table, Luo Mijin asked in confusion:

“You owe me an apology?”

“Actually, this is really hard to say. I regretted it very soon afterward but didn’t dare tell you,” the classmate in the white dress said with a conflicted expression. “Back then, when Madam Cen found out about your situation, it was me. I accidentally let it slip.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean when you two lived together during that out-of-town internship, you were inseparable, practically joined at the hip. That Mrs. Cen then…”

It was only later that she learned the reason Luo Mijin dropped out – the Luo family had discovered her relationship with Rong Qingyao, forced them apart and arranged another marriage for her. When Luo Mijin resisted desperately, they sent her to conversion therapy.

And Senior Rong Qingyao, who had already secured postgraduate admission at their university, was also blocked by the Luo family’s influence. Most companies and schools in the city wouldn’t accept Senior Rong at the time.

Forcing Senior Rong to leave her hometown and go abroad.

She realized belatedly that it was because of her careless words that had aroused Mrs. Cen’s suspicions.

“What did Mrs. Cen do?”

“Senior Rong Qingyao had an accident back then,” the classmate in the white dress paused, smiling bitterly, “Seeing you two so happy together now puts my heart at ease.”

“Can you tell me exactly what happened to her?”

“Didn’t Senior Rong tell you?”

“Not in detail,” Luo Mijin had actually guessed that Rong Qingyao must have been seriously hurt back then, otherwise she would have come looking for her.

This old classmate probably understood Rong Qingyao’s thoughts too – after all the terrible things the Luo family had done, telling Luo Mijin would only add to her guilt without any benefit.

“What exactly did Mrs. Cen do?” Luo Mijin pressed urgently.

“It was quite a scene back then. Mrs. Cen had schizophrenia. She had an episode near your home and pushed Senior Rong off a four-to-five-meter high platform in a frenzy, causing head injuries. Senior Rong was unconscious from blood loss for over ten days.”

Seeing Luo Mijin’s increasingly dark expression, the classmate racked her brains but could only say that Rong Qingyao had received timely treatment and recovered without lasting effects.

“That’s all I know. Seeing you both safe and sound now is such a relief.”

“Thank you, really, thank you so much.”

From these fragments, Luo Mijin could almost piece together the whole story from back then.

Her grandfather had deceived her all along. Her compromise hadn’t secured Rong Qingyao’s happiness, only cost them seven wasted years.

Even if she hadn’t lost her voice at the airport that day, she wouldn’t have been able to find Rong Qingyao.

As if their seven-year separation was destined.

“Thank you for telling me all this.”

“No, I’m truly sorry. If I hadn’t said those things, Mrs. Cen might never have discovered your relationship. Maybe you wouldn’t have had to drop out.”

Luo Mijin lowered her eyes and shook her head. Sooner or later, she and Rong Qingyao would have faced this ordeal regardless.

“I just hope you’re both happy now.”

“Thank you.”

The classmate in white didn’t drink her coffee, leaving before Rong Qingyao and the others returned.

Noticing the heavy silence at the coffee table, Bai Jinhuai jokingly asked what happened, only to hear Rong Qingyao say:

“She apologized to me seven years ago.”

Luo Mijin took the cappuccino, staring blankly at Rong Qingyao.

“That woman who was nominally my stepmother has been punished. The son she obsessed over became worthless, and she got not a single cent of the Cen family fortune.”

“Mrs. Cen recently moved into my family’s rehabilitation center,” Bai Jinhuai said with a mischievous grin, resting his chin on his hand. “Of course, I’ve asked the nurses to take good care of her.”

Understanding that these two didn’t want her to dwell on past painful emotions, Luo Mijin perked up, finished her coffee, and then joined Rong Qingyao as hosts to show Bai Jinhuai around half the campus.

By evening, the weather took a turn for the worse, with faint signs of thunder and rain, so they agreed to continue the tour tomorrow.

After parting ways with Bai Jinhuai, they walked under the hazy streetlights, the rain weaving a delicate curtain as a thin mist rose around them.

Luo Mijin had already vaguely guessed that something had happened to Rong Qingyao back then, that she had been injured, but she never imagined it had been so brutal.

“Senior, thank you for loving me,” Luo Mijin suddenly blurted out, the words tender and seemingly out of nowhere.

Rong Qingyao, however, was deeply touched. “Silly melon, none of that was your fault. You don’t need to thank me.”

“But I want to say it anyway.”

“Actually, I’ve thought about it more than once,” Rong Qingyao’s gaze grew distant and pained. “If I hadn’t been injured, I would’ve searched for you harder. I would’ve camped outside your house, gone to find Zhiwen, maybe made better choices. We wouldn’t have lost those seven years.”

Just thinking about Luo Mijin being forced into that terrible place, forced to “cure” her “homosexuality,” even the postcards they used to communicate being maliciously altered by her family, what kind of blow was that? How utterly hopeless.

Luo Mijin shook her head desperately. She wanted to say it wasn’t like that, that Rong Qingyao had already done her best.

No one in this world could ever love her the way Rong Qingyao did.

No one would cross oceans, battered and barely alive, not for fame or fortune, but simply to gain the strength to save her one day.

Remembering Rong Qingyao’s earlier words about not wanting her to be sad anymore, Luo Mijin quietly took the woman’s hand while no one was around. “Senior, what should we do when we get home?”

The melancholy in her heart gradually faded, and Rong Qingyao’s thoughts immediately took a different turn. She squeezed Luo Mijin’s fingers. “Sleep. The kind where we do nothing else.”

“Oh, that’s fine too,” Luo Mijin didn’t bother hiding her disappointment. “Can we watch a movie before sleeping?”

“What movie?”

“Yours.”

“No, that’d be weird.”

“Then I’ll find something else.”

Back at home, Rong Qingyao was on high alert. She took a shower alone, then spent half an hour in the study handling work.

“Senior, senior, come here!”

Hearing Luo Mijin call for her, the woman’s lush red lips curled into a smile as she gracefully ascended the stairs. Pushing the door open, she said, “What is it? Can’t bear to be apart from me for even a moment? Let me tell you, tonight you have to behave. Don’t even think about touching me.”

Luo Mijin, who had been crouching on the floor, slowly stood up without arguing, merely smiling gently. “Senior, come here. Look, what’s this?”

“What?” Rong Qingyao took a few steps forward and saw it immediately, the stationery imprinted with blue morpho butterflies, the same paper they had used to exchange messages at the bar…

She had brought it back with her, unable to leave it behind, even buying a special box to store it. But these past few days, Luo Mijin had kept her so occupied that she’d forgotten to hide it and now the secret was out.

And of all times, it had to be now!

“Hmm, look here. This lady named Fox on the letter says she doesn’t dare meet me in person.”

“After all our chats and even adding each other on WeChat, how could she possibly be afraid to meet me?” Luo Mijin feigned contemplation. “Do you think she has something to hide?”

Rong Qingyao: “…”

She closed her eyes, overwhelmed by regret.

“Was her excuse still about baldness and hair loss?”

“Well, Luo Mijin, I… I didn’t mean to.”

“So it was accidental?” Luo Mijin’s tone was calm yet pointed. “An intentional accident?”

Rong Qingyao blinked with half-hearted grievance, her unpainted soft lips parting slightly. “Luo Mijin, you’re so fierce. I’m really scared of you.”

“You’re not scared of me at all.”

“I am. Sometimes you’re so intimidating,” the woman said, her heartbeat quickening as she held her breath slightly. Her delicate, boneless body leaned subtly toward Luo Mijin, her eyes gradually misting over with shimmering tears.

Her breathing grew slightly uneven, and the heavy nasal tone in her usually cool, mature voice gave it an unexpectedly girlish, coquettish edge.

Luo Mijin waved the letter in her hand, softening her tone but stubbornly holding her ground.

Hmph. Rong Qingyao wasn’t afraid of her at all.

This woman could be devastatingly alluring one moment and ethereally refined the next, her acting skills effortless.

She had to stay firm.

“Senior, I… No, the death penalty may be waived, but living punishment is unavoidable.”

She steadied her expression, thinking to herself how close she’d come to being swayed by the woman’s bone-meltingly sweet voice.

Absolutely not.

“Then what do you think would be fair?” Rong Qingyao asked, guilt surging through her like relentless waves.

She clung softly to Luo Mijin, trying to evoke sympathy.

Luo Mijin toyed with the stack of letters in one hand, refusing to answer. Unable to bear the silence, Rong Qingyao’s beautiful, enchanting eyes welled with unshed tears as she asked in a small voice:

“Will you let me make it up to you?”

Support