A Time-Limited Romance with Movie Queen Ex (GL) - Chapter 4

Outside the row of Roman-style windows at the street corner, snowflakes fluttered in the twilight. Pedestrians in colorful coats hurried by, clutching coffee cups adorned with pink pig designs.

Today’s café theme was pink pigs, and even the barista’s latte art featured little pigs.

The café staff, including Luo Mijin and the owner Lan Mingyu, totaled only six people.

But business was booming customers for both takeout and dine-in kept streaming in, so nearly everyone doubled as baristas, pastry chefs, and occasionally even delivery runners.

After the unexpected encounter with the celebrity, Lan Mingyu secretly observed Luo Mijin for a long time. Apart from her usual rigid movements, she didn’t seem particularly strange.

Gradually, Lan Mingyu relaxed, concluding that Luo Mijin and Rong Qingyao were merely old acquaintances.

“Luoluo, aren’t you going to the hospital to see your sister?”

Luo Mijin, grinding coffee beans, remained in the same position until she finished the handful before answering.

“The doctor said there’s a new medication they can try, but one dose costs 3,000 yuan. A full course requires twenty doses. I want to save up a bit more.”

She smiled faintly. In the past, she had no concept of money spending when she had it, going without when she didn’t.

She used to think she was different from others, but these past few years had humbled her.

Luo Mijin was ordinary, just like everyone else on the street.

Especially when your only family member was critically ill, unconscious, and in desperate need of money.

If she had to name one thing that set her apart now, it would only be her condition.

“Luoluo, I can help cover the costs,” Lan Mingyu said earnestly. “You know I have a family trust, scholarships since childhood, and this café makes decent money too.”

Luo Mijin shook her head with a soft smile. “Mingyu, she’s my sister. This is my responsibility. Besides, someone called me saying they liked my drumming and want me to perform with their band at their wedding.”

“But in your condition,  is it really okay to be around so many people?”

“It’s fine. I can manage,” Luo Mijin replied, lowering her gaze. “I’ve performed in bars before, haven’t I?”

“Alright, but you’re eating extra meat for dinner tonight,” Lan Mingyu conceded, knowing this conversation had played out too many times before.

She had first met Luo Mijin when the latter came to L City searching for her missing sister. To fund her sister’s treatment, she had stayed ever since.

“I just transferred the rent and food money to you. Check if the amount’s correct.”

Lan Mingyu bit back her refusal. “Got it. It’s here.”

“I’ll go serve the customers.” Luo Mijin picked up the oat latte and espresso for Table 3 and headed over.

The guests at Table 3 were two stylish young girls, chattering nonstop about celebrities, manicures, and fashion.

One of them suddenly gasped at her phone, unable to contain her excitement.

“Ahhh! It’s Rong Qingyao’s new movie! She’s so gorgeous!”

“Let me see! I want to see my goddess too!”

Hearing their voices, Luo Mijin’s heart clenched. Instinctively, her eyes darted to the girl’s phone screen.

There, a woman in silver-white feathered sleeves sat atop a city gate engulfed in flames, strumming a scorched-tail guqin, her ink-black hair cascading down, lips as red as bl00d.

Endless snow fell from the sky, her deep-set eyes shimmering with a hazy mist as slender fingers idly brushed across the piano strings.

Both resplendent and desolate.

“Thank goodness our goddess has stayed single and never dated, or my heart would truly break,” a girl holding her phone sighed, pausing the movie at this breathtaking moment to admire it repeatedly.

“I also hope our goddess remains single forever, no marriage, no relationships. But,” another girl’s expression turned sorrowful, “so many wealthy heiresses and young masters are pursuing her. Tall, short, fat, thin, she could take her pick. Even if she isn’t dating now, she will eventually.”

[She will eventually.]

Luo Mijin’s mind blanked for a second at those words, a faint twinge of pain tightening in her chest.

She stood there, unsurprised, waiting for the ache to pass.

She just had to endure it.

If Rong Qingyao found happiness, she should offer blessings, not jealousy.

**

A black Bentley slowly pulled to the curb, and Yan Si handed Rong Qingyao another phone.

“President Rong, there’s an invitation for you to attend a private equity dinner later, a call from the lab reporting progress on the AI project, and finally, the old master reminding you to return to the family estate tomorrow for the reunion banquet.”

After returning the calls, Rong Qingyao finally had a moment to herself.

Through the half-open car window, she watched Luo Mijin bustling about inside the café.

Tall and slender, dressed in a white shirt with a dark green apron, her figure was striking her frame elegant, exuding an undeniable mix of innocence and melancholy.

It was hard to imagine innocence and melancholy coexisting in one person, but Luo Mijin was just that kind of special.

“President Rong, would you like to go in for a coffee?” Yan Si asked cautiously. She had worked for Rong Qingyao for four years, yet this was the first time she couldn’t read her boss’s thoughts at all.

“No.”

“They seem really close,” Yan Si blurted out as she watched Lan Mingyu place a windproof beanie on Luo Mijin’s head.

“Do they?” Rong Qingyao’s gaze remained fixed on the two inside the café.

It seemed they were closing up. Lan Mingyu took off her manager’s apron, bid farewell to the other staff, and even handed out small gifts.

Luo Mijin had already stepped outside, pulling out a black bicycle, waiting for Lan Mingyu before pushing it together through the snow.

They seemed to be heading home together.

“I thought they were just travel buddies. I didn’t expect them to be together all the time, even at work inseparable.”

“Business hours until nine,” Rong Qingyao murmured, reading the sign outside the café.

Yan Si naturally explained, “It’s Christmas today. Couples must be rushing off for dates, so of course they’d close early.”

The next moment, she sensed her boss’s mood shift strangely like a fragile sheet of ice on the verge of silent shattering in an airless space.

The woman’s fingers, long and elegantly defined as they traced the spine of a book, were impossible to ignore.

“Couples?”

“Yeah, that’s how couples are,” Yan Si suddenly remembered that her boss was famously ascetic, indifferent to romance whether with men or women. It made sense she wouldn’t understand the romantic allure of Christmas or snow.

“Look into this person for me,” Rong Qingyao said softly.

Yan Si felt her job was shifting from executive assistant to private investigator.

“Which person?”

“Lan Mingyu.”

“President Rong, but,  isn’t that inappropriate?”

“Follow them by car triple pay. I’ll take a taxi back.” Rong Qingyao lowered her lashes, her jade-white face veiled in shadow as if brushed by a sliver of cold moonlight.

Her words and the speed at which she exited the car were too swift. Standing in the heavy snow, she walked away in the opposite direction of Luo Mijin.

It looked exactly like a panicked escape captured in a movie’s focus shot.

In the night, Luo Mijin turned to glance down the street as if sensing something.

“Luoluo, what’s wrong?” Lan Mingyu also turned to look at the empty sidewalk, puzzled.

“Nothing,” Luo Mijin replied, knowing it was just her imagination.

This kind of illusion had persisted ever since she and Rong Qingyao parted ways, never ceasing.

**

Returning home, the entire villa was empty and cold. Rong Qingyaomethodically changed clothes, bathed, ate, and exercised.

After another shower, she slipped into a loose silk robe and returned to her bedroom.

The dim light cast shadows along the elegant curve of her neck. Her upper eyelids were nearly translucent, faint blue veins visible beneath.

Her ethereal, aloof face carried a trace of gloom and tension, as though she were waiting for something.

The bedroom was covered in thick cartoon-themed rugs. Among several brand-new gaming consoles sat a single worn-out one.

Her home was filled with items bearing various cartoon motifs, Tom and Jerry towels, an EVA-themed pillow, a Dragon Ball mousepad all starkly at odds with her detached, ascetic demeanor.

Finally, Yan Si’s call came.

“President Rong, I saw them go to Whole Foods to buy beef brisket and tomatoes, then return to the apartment on 17th Street.”

“They live together?” Rong Qingyao seized the key detail.

“Yes.” Yan Si detected an unusual silence on the other end. “I didn’t follow them inside, I couldn’t exactly break into their home.”

“No, you couldn’t,” Rong Qingyao chuckled softly, her eyes flashing with icy self-mockery.

Yan Si grew increasingly uncertain of her boss’s thoughts but pressed on:

“Turns out Lan Mingyu was my brother’s classmate during grad school. She comes from a well-off family, cheerful and gentle, with a long-standing interest in baking and coffee. The café she opened a few years ago has gained some recognition now.”

Yan Si detailed everything about Lan Mingyu her excellent grades, meticulous work ethic, warm personality each word only fueling the fire.

“President Rong, you’re not thinking of poaching her as a pastry chef, are you?”

“Keep going.”

“She and Miss Luo only recently moved in together. They seem close, Miss Luo works part-time at her café.”

“Is there more?”

“Lan Mingyu dated a few girls in college, and her family fully supports her orientation.” Yan Si skimmed through her notes. “Should I send over the history of her café’s founding?”

“No need.”

Hearing the suppressed agitation in Rong Qingyao’s cool tone, Yan Si quickly shifted gears:

“Oh, my brother also shared photos from a reunion, Miss Luo was in them too.”

“Send them to me,” Rong Qingyao replied without hesitation.

The email arrived. The woman clicked open the attachment, a Polaroid photo.

The backdrop was a wooden bridge strung with bamboo lanterns, likely in some park. The group posing together was small, all dressed in refined, expensive attire.

Luo Mijin stood at the edge, leaning against a black bicycle, her face shy and lovely. She and Lan Mingyu wore matching little yellow duck hats.

After a while, Yan Si quietly said over the phone:

“My brother said they seem to be a same-s3x couple. That day someone confessed to Lan Mingyu, and she said she already had a girlfriend.”

“Okay, that’s enough. No need to say more.”

Hanging up the phone, Rong Qingyao found it hard to breathe in the warm room.